Welcome Home
by BrokenChosenofEva
Summary: They saved humanity, and each other, a dozen times. But this time, only one would get to go home. HALO 4 Tribute


Welcome Home

Tribute to Cortana and John S-117  
by BCE

Disclaimer: I own nothing connected to the Halo series.

Rating: k+  
Words: 1k+

Notes: **bold** are memories.

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"Cortana."

Master Chief stands, glancing at the side of the sphere, the wall a blue just like Cortana's avatar. He waits, his voice calm like it always is when he woke up in a new location, knowing Cortana would have something for him to go on.

"Cortana, do you read?"

When she still doesn't answer, he looks around, trying to spot something to tell him where she is or where he is. _She's never left me alone for long,_ he thinks.

"Cortana, come in."

The glow of her appearing behind him catches his attention, and turning he is relieved and confused to find her standing several feet away. She is as tall as he would expect her to be were she flesh and blood, just reaching the height of his shoulder as she walks toward him. Her face is tight around her eyes and mouth, deep sorrow and a little shy, and she stops just a few feet away.

"How...?"

"Oh, I'm the strangest thing you've seen all day?" she asks, a small smile now on her lips, a hint of a giggle in her voice as she looks up at him, but the expression quickly fades to a frown before he speaks again in his gravely voice, confused.

"But if we're here-"

"It worked. You did it. Just like you always do." the emotion in her voice matches the mix of loss and joy on her face, and Chief glances around the bubble they're in, pushing the gnawing fears to the back of his mind like always. She watches him, trying to etch the sight of him into her memories even more firmly than she knows is possible, cementing his voice in her ears.

"So how do we get out of here?" _back to business,_ she thinks, smiling as she looks to her feet before facing him as his mirrored-gold gaze returns to her to see the pain on her face, the pain of knowing what she has to tell him.

"I'm not coming with you this time."

"What?" and it hurts, hearing the incredulity in his voice as he leans slightly towards her, because she knows she's breaking an unspoken promise.

"Most of me is down there." she looks down and to her left, tears in her voice but not on her face as she looks back to him, "I held only enough back to get you off the ship."

"No. That's not-!" he steps towards her, shaking his head in denial of what she's implying, and starts again with a firm nod, even now his mind set, "We go together."

**"Don't make a girl a promise you can't keep."**

"It's already done." she smiles, sad and voice hitching, but the expression is once again fleeting before John speaks, leaning towards her and adamant.

"I am not leaving you here!" the entire time his voice never climbs above a normal speaking volume, but emotion fills it enough to make up for that. He accepted a charge, dying words from possibly his best friend, to never let her go. And she hated that she was the one to make him break that silent promise.

"John..." she breathes, stepping right up to him, placing her hand to his armor covered chest and letting out a small gasp at the contact, blinking rapidly to stop tears she can't have from falling, thinking of another time when she reached out to him, "I've waited so long to do that."

"It was my job to take care of you." tone dropping, his head turns to the side, unable to face her in his failure. _Don't,_ she thinks, _don't hate yourself for this, not this of all things._

"We were supposed to take care of each other." she corrects him gently, leaning to try to catch his gaze, and he turns back to her, "And we did."

"Cortana- please..." his head bows again, glancing to the side, the faint hint of pleading in his voice making her hurt. She'd told him not to make promises he couldn't keep, but he'd tried so hard to keep that one. It made her wish she could change something, anything to make everything like it always is: Him and her, getting away in the nick of time and seeing another day.

She begins stepping back, her fingers lingering on his chest until distance pulls them back and her arm drops to her side, wishing so hard that she could actually cry, to let him see her tears and _know_ that she doesn't want this. She wanted so badly for him to be able to keep his promise and save her like he's done before.

"Wait-" his arm raises up and drops, as if to stop her for a little longer even though there was nothing he could do this time.

"Welcome home, John." she breathes her goodbye, and taking one more step back, content that at least he will survive, she fades.

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"Our duty, as Soldiers, is to protect Humanity." John pauses only a moment, "Whatever the cost."

"You say that, like soldiers and Humanity are two different things," Laskey says, turning to face Master Chief, and what he says next makes John jerk his gaze to him for a moment, "Soldiers aren't machines. We're just people."

When John faces back out the window, Laskey waits to see if he'll respond before giving him one final comment and leaving, "I'll let you have the deck to yourself."

**"...But for all that, I'll never actually know if it looks real... If it **_**feels**_** real."**

Cortana's words echo in his mind, time and events unable to dull them.

**"...Before this is all over, promise me you'll figure out which one of us is the machine."**

"She said that to me once." he says, gravely voice low and dropping lower, "About being a machine."

And he knew he'd never forget his promise to her, and to Sarge. _Too many broken promises..._

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A/N: This hurt to write, watching that scene a half-dozen times to get the words and expressions and emotions right.

I watched that final cut scene between John and Cortana, and honestly I had tears in my eyes. I still have to fight to keep from crying while I write this note. I kept thinking "It'll be ok, Chief and Cortana always get away. They'll get to Halsey and she'll help Cortana." I was denying everything just as much as John was, all the way through the credits and the final scene when he goes to get his armor removed. Just like I kept denying that Noble Six wasn't going to make it even while I played that final fight with a damaged HUD and Elites all around.

I wanted so badly for something good to happen to them. Just once for them not to get the short end of the stick. And then she was gone, and Chief was on his own. I was so mad, and it hurt too. I always get emotionally attached to the characters in good stories -books, movies, games- , knowing things like this happen. Tears in my eyes, I admit that I love these stories for this reason, odd as it might seem, because it makes it more real.

If you liked this, please go read "Fallen Six" by **DevaroAyanami**, it's a tribute to Noble Six.


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